yay for classes...not journal entry once a week...generally lowest quiz gets dropped don't EVER email through angel use sf0006@uah.edu lit is historical, follows lit achievement from earliest to latest times in a progressive line, should be examined within the historical circumstances in which it came into being great lit is timeless, classic, for all ages we must labor to read these works in their own terms christianity in england christian missionaries who came to england brought with them the bible long rooted pagan traditions collided with christian practices clash in civs energized and cross-fertilized lang and lit until 1066, when the normans invaded church was foundational during these early centuries no written lang except latin anglo-saxon poetry english lit is not the same as lit in english much of ancient english lit exists in fragments or is lost altogether early lit was sung, recited, or spoken it was not written, therefore fragile missed a slide... beowulf first text on which the structure of english lit rests dates from 6th century, during dark age that fell after romans left british isles romans left behind latin lang left behind monasteries church during this time was tolerant of pagan lit, like beowulf england invaded by angles, saxons, jutes, danes, and vikings composed as a recitation, probably in the 6th century, by pagan newcomers from the northeast handed down through generations of minstrels until it was transcribed by a monk who added christian doctrine keys to old english poetry lord surrounds himslef with band of retainers, king is based on kin which means members of a household, king leads his men in battle and rewards them with the spoils royal generosity was one of most important aspects of heroic behavior blood vengeance is regarded as sacred duty multitude of terms for lord, warrior, spear, shield, etc much use of irony, fighting called battle-play use of kenning, two words used to substitute another term, sea becomes whale-road and body is life house use of litote, ironic understatement middle ages/birth of english lang middle ages designates the time span from collapse of roman empire to renaissance art, science, and lit flourished during this time 3 distinct linguistic periods, anglo-saxon, anglo-norman, middle english old english is germanic, anglo-norman is french-inspired, middle english is chron and ling div from other forms of early english norman conquest end of old engish period, norman conquest occurred, last king in line with alfred the great, harold was made kings, immediately challenged by william of normandy middle english period 1100-1500 changes to lang, sounds, meanings many english words replaced by french ones most aristocracy spoke french tie with france decreased with loss of normandy french was always an educated language hundred years war ended uses of french in england rise of london standard had chars of both northern and southern dialects, became std for all of england authors wrote in local dialects chaucer write in london std effects of changes in lang loss of grammatical gender loss of several personal pronouns word order came to resemble modern english kent was literary center